Wednesday, December 27, 2006
New Years Resolutions
Time once again to put down your new years resolutions. Mine is to paint more. I've really been slacking on that. I want to get into my high school jeans.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
You know where to find me
It's December 26. I'll be upstairs in front of my Ps2 defeating the evil empire.
FF12 bitches!!!
Did you guys get everything you wanted for christmas? Considering I was there when you opened them and said how happy you were I'm going to ignore your answers and go play more video games. ta.
FF12 bitches!!!
Did you guys get everything you wanted for christmas? Considering I was there when you opened them and said how happy you were I'm going to ignore your answers and go play more video games. ta.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
The Nate Knox Interview!
I interviewed Nate about two months ago. I've been busy since then and I have to say I didn't do a great job of the interview, but here it is.
Good news Everyone!
Well everyone I, Richard Edmont of the clan Edmont, vessel of the holy mind lightning, and Ravager of Squaresoft, have done it again! I was up around 1:30 last night watching Naruto episode 159 on youtube when I suddenly saw in a blinding flash of insight given to me by the great lightning god how to overhaul, revamp, and all around save the american educational system! Oh it's true...
Gather around all and hark! For these words shall be be the stuff of legends.
The Overview
We'll start with preschool. Preschool will for the most part remain unchanged. Kids will still do all the feel good preschool crap like coloring and paper cutouts, but they'll learn numbers and letters more with maybe some basic math thrown in around the end.
In kindergarten the alphabet and addition will be taught, BUT (and here's where the
brillance comes in) you start teaching kids how to learn things on their own. Example, instead of giving kids work sheet homework doing whatever they did in school you send them home with the assignment that they have to learn a fact they didn't know. It can be anything, even something as stupidly simple as their dog is three years old and likes ice cream cones. This will get them into the practice and mind set that learning doesn't have to be something boring or lame that they get only from books or school. It's crucial that you get them at a young age to think of learning as a never ending process that can happen anywhere. This will increase their natural curiousity and make them more interested in the rest of their academic careers.
You also have to assign each incoming class a guidance counselor, to work with the kids through their elementary career. Each child would meet with their counselor twice a month. I'll explain why later.
First grade through third you take their teaching up a notch from how and what they're taught now. Teachers shouldn't be afraid to try to teach thier kids something a little more difficult or go a bit more in depth because they think the kids are too young. I remember a few times over the years kids in my class being actually interested in something and asking a question and the teacher just ignoring them and saying, "You'll learn that later, don't worry about it now." Teachers should try to make things a degree above their students comfortable level, not dumb things down. Also kids only homework should be to learn two things they didn't know, again allowing it to be any stupid thing they like just as long as they learn something.
Fourth grade will be a basic skills year. The students will learn multiplication, division, reading, and writing. History and science won't be taught. Only those four things will be stressed and they'll be stressed all year. Students in this year will have what we would think of as normal homework as well as the learning something homework. By now the learning something new should be second nature to them. At the end of the year they will have a basic skills test in which they will be tested on math, reading, and writing. If they do not achieve a grade of 75% or higher they must either re do the year or take summer classes and retake the test.
Five and six grades will be overview years. Students will be given introductory courses of higher math, science, history, english, vocational, and languages. The purpose of these two years will be to let students see what they like and what they're good at. During these years students will no longer be required to go home and learn something new. They should be doing on their own by now without anyone telling them to. At the end of these two years students and their parents will have a meeting with their assigned guidance counselor to discuss and decide what sort of field of study the student wants to persue during high school. Students will be instructed to go with two, but more or less will be allowed. If a student wants to do simply general studies they can.
High school now becomes more like college. Students in a math or science class are there because they're good at it and they want to be there. Teachers can go more in depth and push their kids because everyone in the class can keep up. During my time in school there were a number of times teachers would put off tests or new material because the class wasn't getting the old material. That wouldn't have to happen. Also if a student is only taking two classes a day (e.i. a math and science) they can cover much more and much faster than anyone could under the present system. Students could reach a level or understanding in their selected field that they wouldn't normally achieve until they're halfway through college! Students who are excellent at math, but are hopeless with grammar and history wouldn't have to waste their and everyone else's time with taking a english or history class. And it wouldn't be that they don't know how to read or write at an acceptable level because they already passed the basic skills exam when they were fourth grade!
Under this system kids could more and faster than they ever possibly could under the present one. Graduating high school would be a matter of accumulating a certain amount of credits in their pre-selected fields. A student could focus on one subject
and concievablly be ready to enter the work force with college level knowledge by the time they were 16 or 17. College as an institution would almost become irrelevant and unnecessary.
The Details
Scheduling and budgeting this system would be...difficult. Teachers on nearly every level would have to be retrained and on the high school level need to be as well read in their area as college professors. Finding the teachers for this and then paying them would be near impossible. An elementary school would need at least seven guidance counselors, more perhaps depending on class size as you would want a ratio of counselor to students that allowed personal interaction meaningful.
Pushing students at an early age could in some cases could simply not work. Some children could respond and adapt to a tougher learning environment and others would need additional years of babying.
One aspect of this that could be done without any additional funding is the elementary level homework of learning something new everyday. This in fact is the most important part of the entire system. If kids can be shown at an early age that learning is discovering things you didn't know by themselves and not memorizing facts for two days so they'll pass the next test they'll be much more likely to suceed later as they never stop learning.
A public school would never go for any of this. Even the ones in Vermont and California. A private school might consider it, but they would have to start with preschoolers and go up to high school and no one would do that even if they wanted to. It would be too costly for them to even dream of making a profit. They could charge an arm and a leg, but not enough people would send their kids to make it worth the investment.
At the high school level teachers would have to not only know their material inside and out to go really into depth, but they'd also have to be interested and interesting enough to keep the students atttetion for long stetches of time. Having students that chose to be in the class would help, but that'd only get them so far. At fifteen I lived and died for Babylon 5, but even after two episodes in a row (which I still refuse to buy on DVD by the way) I was ready to go do something else.
Also, assuming a student wants to go to a private college after high school there could be some trouble if the college has core classes that think the students took classes they may have never took. What if a college required english class assumes a student took high school english classes when the student hasn't taken a english class since they were twelve? Problems could arise.
The Conclusion
As with all my genius ideas (and this one tops the keeper list people!) there are a few bugs to work out. Have no fear however, even as I write this I am coming up with solutions. Ego and joking aside I feel that this type of thinking needs to be done and a change in the american educational system and the very way we teach and learn is long over due. Our understanding and knowledge has increased so dramatically over the last few decades that it seems almost moronic to still be using the same methods we use now that we used then. In the forties and fifties for example, a teacher of biology had significantly less to teach than he or she does now. They could probably teach a single year long course on simply diseases and such and still not be able to fit in everything they wanted to.
Allowing teachers to teach kids that want to learn their given subject and cutting away students who want to not bother could be a practical solution. Students would happier because they're not taking their worst subject and teachers would be happy because they wouldn't have unhappy students. It's win/win people!
Okay, that's enough for me. I'm going downstairs to break out some cookies, open up a milk carton, and get my drink on!
Gather around all and hark! For these words shall be be the stuff of legends.
The Overview
We'll start with preschool. Preschool will for the most part remain unchanged. Kids will still do all the feel good preschool crap like coloring and paper cutouts, but they'll learn numbers and letters more with maybe some basic math thrown in around the end.
In kindergarten the alphabet and addition will be taught, BUT (and here's where the
brillance comes in) you start teaching kids how to learn things on their own. Example, instead of giving kids work sheet homework doing whatever they did in school you send them home with the assignment that they have to learn a fact they didn't know. It can be anything, even something as stupidly simple as their dog is three years old and likes ice cream cones. This will get them into the practice and mind set that learning doesn't have to be something boring or lame that they get only from books or school. It's crucial that you get them at a young age to think of learning as a never ending process that can happen anywhere. This will increase their natural curiousity and make them more interested in the rest of their academic careers.
You also have to assign each incoming class a guidance counselor, to work with the kids through their elementary career. Each child would meet with their counselor twice a month. I'll explain why later.
First grade through third you take their teaching up a notch from how and what they're taught now. Teachers shouldn't be afraid to try to teach thier kids something a little more difficult or go a bit more in depth because they think the kids are too young. I remember a few times over the years kids in my class being actually interested in something and asking a question and the teacher just ignoring them and saying, "You'll learn that later, don't worry about it now." Teachers should try to make things a degree above their students comfortable level, not dumb things down. Also kids only homework should be to learn two things they didn't know, again allowing it to be any stupid thing they like just as long as they learn something.
Fourth grade will be a basic skills year. The students will learn multiplication, division, reading, and writing. History and science won't be taught. Only those four things will be stressed and they'll be stressed all year. Students in this year will have what we would think of as normal homework as well as the learning something homework. By now the learning something new should be second nature to them. At the end of the year they will have a basic skills test in which they will be tested on math, reading, and writing. If they do not achieve a grade of 75% or higher they must either re do the year or take summer classes and retake the test.
Five and six grades will be overview years. Students will be given introductory courses of higher math, science, history, english, vocational, and languages. The purpose of these two years will be to let students see what they like and what they're good at. During these years students will no longer be required to go home and learn something new. They should be doing on their own by now without anyone telling them to. At the end of these two years students and their parents will have a meeting with their assigned guidance counselor to discuss and decide what sort of field of study the student wants to persue during high school. Students will be instructed to go with two, but more or less will be allowed. If a student wants to do simply general studies they can.
High school now becomes more like college. Students in a math or science class are there because they're good at it and they want to be there. Teachers can go more in depth and push their kids because everyone in the class can keep up. During my time in school there were a number of times teachers would put off tests or new material because the class wasn't getting the old material. That wouldn't have to happen. Also if a student is only taking two classes a day (e.i. a math and science) they can cover much more and much faster than anyone could under the present system. Students could reach a level or understanding in their selected field that they wouldn't normally achieve until they're halfway through college! Students who are excellent at math, but are hopeless with grammar and history wouldn't have to waste their and everyone else's time with taking a english or history class. And it wouldn't be that they don't know how to read or write at an acceptable level because they already passed the basic skills exam when they were fourth grade!
Under this system kids could more and faster than they ever possibly could under the present one. Graduating high school would be a matter of accumulating a certain amount of credits in their pre-selected fields. A student could focus on one subject
and concievablly be ready to enter the work force with college level knowledge by the time they were 16 or 17. College as an institution would almost become irrelevant and unnecessary.
The Details
Scheduling and budgeting this system would be...difficult. Teachers on nearly every level would have to be retrained and on the high school level need to be as well read in their area as college professors. Finding the teachers for this and then paying them would be near impossible. An elementary school would need at least seven guidance counselors, more perhaps depending on class size as you would want a ratio of counselor to students that allowed personal interaction meaningful.
Pushing students at an early age could in some cases could simply not work. Some children could respond and adapt to a tougher learning environment and others would need additional years of babying.
One aspect of this that could be done without any additional funding is the elementary level homework of learning something new everyday. This in fact is the most important part of the entire system. If kids can be shown at an early age that learning is discovering things you didn't know by themselves and not memorizing facts for two days so they'll pass the next test they'll be much more likely to suceed later as they never stop learning.
A public school would never go for any of this. Even the ones in Vermont and California. A private school might consider it, but they would have to start with preschoolers and go up to high school and no one would do that even if they wanted to. It would be too costly for them to even dream of making a profit. They could charge an arm and a leg, but not enough people would send their kids to make it worth the investment.
At the high school level teachers would have to not only know their material inside and out to go really into depth, but they'd also have to be interested and interesting enough to keep the students atttetion for long stetches of time. Having students that chose to be in the class would help, but that'd only get them so far. At fifteen I lived and died for Babylon 5, but even after two episodes in a row (which I still refuse to buy on DVD by the way) I was ready to go do something else.
Also, assuming a student wants to go to a private college after high school there could be some trouble if the college has core classes that think the students took classes they may have never took. What if a college required english class assumes a student took high school english classes when the student hasn't taken a english class since they were twelve? Problems could arise.
The Conclusion
As with all my genius ideas (and this one tops the keeper list people!) there are a few bugs to work out. Have no fear however, even as I write this I am coming up with solutions. Ego and joking aside I feel that this type of thinking needs to be done and a change in the american educational system and the very way we teach and learn is long over due. Our understanding and knowledge has increased so dramatically over the last few decades that it seems almost moronic to still be using the same methods we use now that we used then. In the forties and fifties for example, a teacher of biology had significantly less to teach than he or she does now. They could probably teach a single year long course on simply diseases and such and still not be able to fit in everything they wanted to.
Allowing teachers to teach kids that want to learn their given subject and cutting away students who want to not bother could be a practical solution. Students would happier because they're not taking their worst subject and teachers would be happy because they wouldn't have unhappy students. It's win/win people!
Okay, that's enough for me. I'm going downstairs to break out some cookies, open up a milk carton, and get my drink on!
Monday, December 18, 2006
Count Black Fist
Nate was telling me about this book he saw at his boss' house titled How to be a Supervillian.
Part of the first chapter was choosing a name and motivation. My name I've decided would be
Count Black Fist and I'd be doing it for power. I would employ standard thugs. You?
Part of the first chapter was choosing a name and motivation. My name I've decided would be
Count Black Fist and I'd be doing it for power. I would employ standard thugs. You?
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Spiders
I found an interesting quote while watching videos on youtube. It was a trip like I do amv for Trigun. At the beginging and end it said across the screen, "kill the spiders to save the butterflies"
at the end it added, "It's rational until you realize that by striving for it, you become a spider yourself."
Something I just wanted to share.
at the end it added, "It's rational until you realize that by striving for it, you become a spider yourself."
Something I just wanted to share.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
What happened to victory?
I saw an ad/reminder/service announcement thing saying that when you got the flu to be sure to take anti-viral medication. What the hell?! I know don't for sure if anti-virals make super viruses the way antibotics do, but that's not my issue. My issue is whatever happened to being a man? What happened to getting the flu and eating more meat until you were healthy again?
Friday, December 01, 2006
Business plans
If you had to start a business or simply come up with a business plan, what would your idea be?
Friday, November 24, 2006
Which is More Powerful?
Okay everyone, once again it's me. I seem to be doing this a lot these last fews weeks. After Much Kingdom Hearts playing and Naruto watching Mr.222 and I have a question. We have been debating it between each other and are talking ourselves in circles. We've always thought that a person's mind is the most powerful thing they can own and while emotions are all well and good they can get in the way of reasoning and accomplishing goals. However, after aforementioned game playing and anime watching, we're rethinking this stance. We'll explain in posts.
The question: Which is more powerful, the mind or the heart?
The question: Which is more powerful, the mind or the heart?
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Crazy or just Insane?
There are shootings and robberies over the new Ps3. People are buying them for $600 and selling them online for as much as $3000. Do you think that people are getting too carried away? Is the ps3 really worth $600-$3000? How much is Sony to blame for all this?
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Thursday, November 09, 2006
I'm only happy when it rains
The Christmas season is starting.
Does anyone actually like Christmas anymore?
Does anyone actually like Christmas anymore?
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
We now have titles!
Mr.222 and I finally figured out where the setting was to enable titles for our posts. It was in the settings section. That is all.
Monday, November 06, 2006
My question for the week got eaten or something. I don't know what happened there. Headmaster said he was trying to post stuff last night, but it wasn't working. Blogger might have been having problems.
My question this week is thus. Dragonrane isn't letting me play Final Fantasy 12 or any video games at all until Christmas. Not even so much as letting me look at freecell. My question.
Is it better to wait for something you really want and thus really like it when you finally get it and learn restraint and how to manage you needs and wants OR is it better to have something right when you want it and be happy and fulfilled?
You all can guess which position I take.
My question this week is thus. Dragonrane isn't letting me play Final Fantasy 12 or any video games at all until Christmas. Not even so much as letting me look at freecell. My question.
Is it better to wait for something you really want and thus really like it when you finally get it and learn restraint and how to manage you needs and wants OR is it better to have something right when you want it and be happy and fulfilled?
You all can guess which position I take.
Friday, October 27, 2006
I'm doing the question even though I just did one. Dragonrane's busy on other stuff.
Michael J. Fox had a political ad during the world series in St. Louis urging people to vote for candiates that supported stem cell research.
I think that's incredibly selfish and whiny. His main reason for wanting more stem cell reseach i because he wants to be magically cured. I can respect that, but to go on tv and ask people to vote a certain way because you want to be magically cured is just self serving. What do you think?
Michael J. Fox had a political ad during the world series in St. Louis urging people to vote for candiates that supported stem cell research.
I think that's incredibly selfish and whiny. His main reason for wanting more stem cell reseach i because he wants to be magically cured. I can respect that, but to go on tv and ask people to vote a certain way because you want to be magically cured is just self serving. What do you think?
Monday, October 23, 2006
Heros (monday at nine on NBC) is the coolest thing ever since the last coolest thing ever! Things are starting to look up for me and my kingdom of dorkdom! Heros! Avatar: the last airbender!
Final Fantasy 12!
I've set a goal for myself! I accidentally started final fantasy tactics a few days ago then saw that final fantasy 12 is coming october 31. You can't play two games at once and you can't start another before you finished the last one. So, I have eight days to beat tactics! The clock is ticking!
Have no fear! Am I not the caged lightning? Did not the ancient scrolls foretell of my victory over all things Squaresoft? The game clock says I've been playing for roughly eight hours and I'm in the second chapter with five teleporting ninja knights. I have to work all day, but by the time I go to bed Tuesday I'll be starting chapter three with five teleporting ninja knights that cure themselves whenever they get hit!
Who dares doubt the ancient scrolls?!
Final Fantasy 12!
I've set a goal for myself! I accidentally started final fantasy tactics a few days ago then saw that final fantasy 12 is coming october 31. You can't play two games at once and you can't start another before you finished the last one. So, I have eight days to beat tactics! The clock is ticking!
Have no fear! Am I not the caged lightning? Did not the ancient scrolls foretell of my victory over all things Squaresoft? The game clock says I've been playing for roughly eight hours and I'm in the second chapter with five teleporting ninja knights. I have to work all day, but by the time I go to bed Tuesday I'll be starting chapter three with five teleporting ninja knights that cure themselves whenever they get hit!
Who dares doubt the ancient scrolls?!
Thursday, October 19, 2006
I was watching ER this morning and I saw an ad for a toothbrush. I could almost swear I heard it say it had an onboard computer. A toothbrush with a computer inside. Why would a toothbrush need a computer?
This week's question. Is our society becoming too technological? Are we getting too dependent and entwined in all our fancy gadgets whose only purpose is to jingle bad Justin Timberlake songs and take bad pictures of Lindsey Lohan?
This week's question. Is our society becoming too technological? Are we getting too dependent and entwined in all our fancy gadgets whose only purpose is to jingle bad Justin Timberlake songs and take bad pictures of Lindsey Lohan?
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
This isn't the week's question. Mr.222's in charge of that this week. The following is part of an actual conversation I had with Headmaster today. I had just read on drudgereport a headline about a boyfriend cutting off his girlfriend's head and then cooking her. Yeah, I know...
Me-Did you see this man? "Man decapitates and cooks girlfriend"?
Him-No, but I can't say I'm terribly surprised.
Me-What the hell is happening to the world? Everyone's going fuckin' crazy.
Him-No, everyone's always been insane. Now we just hear about it more.
Me-Naaa...I don't know man.
Him-These things have always been going on. Husbands have always been cheating on their wives and plotting how to get rid of them with their mistresses. Mothers have always been
killing their kids because they can't take the screaming anymore. Young women have always been marrying eighty year old men for money. The only difference now is media coverage.
Me-Media coverage?
Him-Dude, we've got five 24 hour news networks on our tv and we don't even get that good big city cable. They each gotta fill all that time somehow. And don't get me started on the internet.
Me-huh.....I guess that makes sense. Who's idea was 24 hour news anyway?
Him-If memory serves the first was CNN. Started by Ted Turner.
Me-Does that make him some kind of herald of evil?
Him-I've been saying it since 96. Maybe now you'll see that when I say something it's not just because I enjoy the feeling of my lips moving.
Me-So what's the solution then? Don't watch the tv news?
Him-Listen to the radio. They only give you sixty seconds of news once every hour. That should keep you informed and mostly mentally undamaged. You'd have to listen to Justin Timberlake though, so you might want to just blow your brains out now and save yourself some time.
Here he went into the kitchen to make himself a sandwich. After a moment I heard the radio come on.
Me-Did you see this man? "Man decapitates and cooks girlfriend"?
Him-No, but I can't say I'm terribly surprised.
Me-What the hell is happening to the world? Everyone's going fuckin' crazy.
Him-No, everyone's always been insane. Now we just hear about it more.
Me-Naaa...I don't know man.
Him-These things have always been going on. Husbands have always been cheating on their wives and plotting how to get rid of them with their mistresses. Mothers have always been
killing their kids because they can't take the screaming anymore. Young women have always been marrying eighty year old men for money. The only difference now is media coverage.
Me-Media coverage?
Him-Dude, we've got five 24 hour news networks on our tv and we don't even get that good big city cable. They each gotta fill all that time somehow. And don't get me started on the internet.
Me-huh.....I guess that makes sense. Who's idea was 24 hour news anyway?
Him-If memory serves the first was CNN. Started by Ted Turner.
Me-Does that make him some kind of herald of evil?
Him-I've been saying it since 96. Maybe now you'll see that when I say something it's not just because I enjoy the feeling of my lips moving.
Me-So what's the solution then? Don't watch the tv news?
Him-Listen to the radio. They only give you sixty seconds of news once every hour. That should keep you informed and mostly mentally undamaged. You'd have to listen to Justin Timberlake though, so you might want to just blow your brains out now and save yourself some time.
Here he went into the kitchen to make himself a sandwich. After a moment I heard the radio come on.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Here's the scenerio coming through your stereo. The rest of the crew has abandoned the ship via the lifepods and gotten away to a safe distance. You stayed behind on the bridge to make sure they enemy doesn't get access to the central computer. When they break down the doors and rush in
what do you say right before to set off the nuke sitting right behind you?
what do you say right before to set off the nuke sitting right behind you?
Thursday, October 05, 2006
This week's question. Why the hell is this popular?
London Bridge
oh shit, oh shit, oh shit
when i come to the clubs, step aside
pop the seeds, don't be hating me in the line
v.i.p because you know i gotta shine
i'm fergie ferg
give me love you long time
all my girls get down on the floor
back to back drop it down real low
i'm such a lady but i'm dancing like a ho
because you know what, i don't give a fuck
so here we go!
(chorus (x2))
how come every time you come around
my london london bridge want to go down
like london london london want to go down
like london london london be going down
drinks start pouring
my speech start slurring
everybody start looking real good
the grey goose got the girl feeling loose
now i wishing that i didn't wear these shoes
it's like everytime i get up on the dude
paparazzi put my business in the news
and i'm gonna get up out my face (oh, shit)
before i turn around and spray your ass with mace (oh, shit)
my lips make you want to have a taste (oh, shit)
you got that? i got the bass
(chorus x2)
London Bridge
oh shit, oh shit, oh shit
when i come to the clubs, step aside
pop the seeds, don't be hating me in the line
v.i.p because you know i gotta shine
i'm fergie ferg
give me love you long time
all my girls get down on the floor
back to back drop it down real low
i'm such a lady but i'm dancing like a ho
because you know what, i don't give a fuck
so here we go!
(chorus (x2))
how come every time you come around
my london london bridge want to go down
like london london london want to go down
like london london london be going down
drinks start pouring
my speech start slurring
everybody start looking real good
the grey goose got the girl feeling loose
now i wishing that i didn't wear these shoes
it's like everytime i get up on the dude
paparazzi put my business in the news
and i'm gonna get up out my face (oh, shit)
before i turn around and spray your ass with mace (oh, shit)
my lips make you want to have a taste (oh, shit)
you got that? i got the bass
(chorus x2)
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Hey everyone! Dragonrane really gets mad when it's your turn to do the weekly question and you don't. I couldn't think up a good one. How about this. What would you want to be doing while
Bitter Sweet Symphony was playing? Like if you were doing something cool and you had someone to follow you around with a boom box.
I'd want to be walking down main street with shirt on that said ' no, you the man' and giving everyone who smiled at me the thumbs up.
Bitter Sweet Symphony was playing? Like if you were doing something cool and you had someone to follow you around with a boom box.
I'd want to be walking down main street with shirt on that said ' no, you the man' and giving everyone who smiled at me the thumbs up.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
This week's question is inspired by a dream I had where I was fighting and killing an army of angels. I expect answers.
What song would you want playing while you were alone doing battle with angels?
What song would you want playing while you were alone doing battle with demons?
My angel song would be Perfect gentleman by Wyclef.
Demon song would be Go With the Flow by Queens of the Stone Age.
What song would you want playing while you were alone doing battle with angels?
What song would you want playing while you were alone doing battle with demons?
My angel song would be Perfect gentleman by Wyclef.
Demon song would be Go With the Flow by Queens of the Stone Age.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Okay everyone, we've decided that we're going to have a weekly question here and we'll take turns asking the questions. We came to this conclusion after we sent a few weeks talking around the house if you could defeat your evil self. I've come up with another good one so I'll go first.
If your body was damaged beyond repair would you want your mind transfered into an android body?
Personally, I wouldn't bother waiting for my body to be damaged and or broken. After watching Nate for the last two years I'd just skip to the robot body if I had my way. Think of all the advantges. Total memory recall, replacable parts, not to mention upgrades. I could finally achieve the dream of laser eyes. I wouldn't have to surf the internet all day I could find what I want through my wireless connection while shopping for supper.
In short, becoming a robot would quite possibly be the greatest thing that ever happened to me.
-Mr.222
If your body was damaged beyond repair would you want your mind transfered into an android body?
Personally, I wouldn't bother waiting for my body to be damaged and or broken. After watching Nate for the last two years I'd just skip to the robot body if I had my way. Think of all the advantges. Total memory recall, replacable parts, not to mention upgrades. I could finally achieve the dream of laser eyes. I wouldn't have to surf the internet all day I could find what I want through my wireless connection while shopping for supper.
In short, becoming a robot would quite possibly be the greatest thing that ever happened to me.
-Mr.222
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Well everybody, it would seem Myspace.com is trying to crack down on the perps. Starting soon you only be able to look at the full profile of a child (below 18) if you either a friend and can say their full name or are yourself under 18.
Nevermind that you can just lie about your age as easily as typing 17 on the keyboard or that the stupid kids can lie and say they're 18 so they can get their profiles seen by everyone. You don't need to think about that. It's only a distraction. What you need to think about is that Myspace is a family environment where you can scan through all the grainy pictures of fourteen girls in their bras. Or the extreme close ups of someone's thong.
I prefer Tagworld.
Nevermind that you can just lie about your age as easily as typing 17 on the keyboard or that the stupid kids can lie and say they're 18 so they can get their profiles seen by everyone. You don't need to think about that. It's only a distraction. What you need to think about is that Myspace is a family environment where you can scan through all the grainy pictures of fourteen girls in their bras. Or the extreme close ups of someone's thong.
I prefer Tagworld.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
I am disappointed by Final Fantasy Advent Children. Once again the hard working people at Square have fallen into the trap of no one will notice the plot sucks if the graphics are good enough. Whatever happened to telling a good story? Having a begining, a middle, and an end?
The plot of the movie is that there's a sickness effecting people. But do they go into the sickness and make you see and feel the pain and suffering? No, that'd be boring. Look everyone Cloud's got a sword and he's driving a motorcycle! Cloud's feeling isolated and is withdrawing from the rest of the world. Do we explain why or anything? No, that'd be boring. Let's give him another sword and have he fight the bad guys.
When watching it I kept waiting for the character driven part that Final Fantasy 7 was known for, but it never happened. It was just all 'let's go get the bad guys'. It was totally lame.
But of course the graphics were good.
The plot of the movie is that there's a sickness effecting people. But do they go into the sickness and make you see and feel the pain and suffering? No, that'd be boring. Look everyone Cloud's got a sword and he's driving a motorcycle! Cloud's feeling isolated and is withdrawing from the rest of the world. Do we explain why or anything? No, that'd be boring. Let's give him another sword and have he fight the bad guys.
When watching it I kept waiting for the character driven part that Final Fantasy 7 was known for, but it never happened. It was just all 'let's go get the bad guys'. It was totally lame.
But of course the graphics were good.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
okay everyone, Mike and I were debating this last night while he was on the machine.
Here's the deal, you die and go up to the astral plane. You split yourself into a good half and an evil half. How do you defeat your evil half? How do you kill your good half?
Here's the deal, you die and go up to the astral plane. You split yourself into a good half and an evil half. How do you defeat your evil half? How do you kill your good half?
The problem we kept running into was that our evil side would win. Our dark half wouldn't be afriad to cheat and play dirty while our good side would end feeling sorry for our evil half and not want to hurt him. Also our dark half would be stronger as we've spent years developing our dark eco powers.
Any suggestions?
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Monday, March 20, 2006
Do you want to be instantly smart, funny, successful, and goodlooking? Then sign up now for a free trial of this weird crap we're selling that will grow your hair back. Let's face it guys, if you don't have a full head of thick wavy hair you are not a true man, but in fact a gelded dawrf thing that women will look upon and shriek with terror and disgust. You want to get laid don't you? Yes, of course you do. You are are a true man and thus are guided by your base urges.
So you know what you must do! You must call the number at the bottom of the screen! You must pay the $4.95 shipping and handling and then after the two-three weeks shipping time you will go out and in preparation buy a twelve pack of condoms. Extra large condoms! Yes! The side effects!!
Joy to the world!
So you know what you must do! You must call the number at the bottom of the screen! You must pay the $4.95 shipping and handling and then after the two-three weeks shipping time you will go out and in preparation buy a twelve pack of condoms. Extra large condoms! Yes! The side effects!!
Joy to the world!
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Dot Hack Suck
Least I got a debt card out of it
Okay, I buckled. I got the stupid card. I mean it was just sitting there on the hard drive. The game of the year in hundreds, thousands of magazines and it was just sitting there on our hard drive.
Six gigs of pure gaming perfection just waiting for me, calling to be used, shouting at the top of it's cyber lungs (which isn't very loud with our speakers actually, but it's the thought that counts I guess) to be played. How could I resist? It would be wrong of me to deny it wouldn't it? The geek police would come in and arrest me. I would be forced to give back all my membership cards, the free pictures of Angeilna Jolie, and my precious Babylon five tapes.
I couldn't let that happen. You must understand that. So I got the frellin' card. Does that make me a hypocrit? Maybe. A guy who spelt that word wrong probably? Most definately. But I got the card and started playing the game. The first 30 days were free. And it's a good thing because at the end of the that thirty days I discovered something astounding.
....This game kinda sucks.
Don't get me wrong the graphics were mind blowing, the....ummm....well the graphics were really good. The gameplay could have used a bit of fine tuning. A good example of this was how they overcame the battle problem. In all your normal RPG's put out by Square they have a seperate screen for battling monsters. You know how it is, you're walking along and the screen flashes, you get the weird chung-chung noise, and you move into the screen with just you and the monster. However, you can't do that in online games. My guess is that would take up too much memory and processing power to remember every single person's battle and remove them from the space other people could see them while fighting the monster. So what they did was that when you first attack a monster the screen doesn't change at all but you might as well be in a different world. Allow me to explain....
You're walking through the forest. You see a bunny. You want to kill the bunny. You click on the bunny and you get the little box with your options. You click attack and even if you're a good five steps away from the bunny you'll swing your sword and hit the bunny. Everyone else in the cyber world can see you and the bunny killing each other, hell they can even cure you as you fight and cheer you on. The thing is though is that when you start to lose if you click disenage and run away the bunny keeps hitting you. You can screens apart but to the overlord computer you're still right together in your own separate world. So you die. A lot.
This gets old pretty quick. That and the fact that the fights at first look like they should be of the action RPG variety (Your Kingdom Hearts, Dot Hack Signs, and Dark Clouds. When you walk up to the guy and hit him it means you hit him. When your sword misses the guy it means you missed.) When I first started playing I would move around during battles thinking it mattered. Then after my sword phased through the orc a few times with no damage I realized I could just stand there like a moron and it wouldn't change anything. Once you start a battle you can just walk away from the computer too. It has auto attack so you can go for a bathroom break and still fight to the death. It's kinda stupid. Where's the adreniline rush of moving around and evading attacks? Just hitting F2 and watching your guy do spells and attacks is no fun. I want to be in the game more! Not just the guy hitting buttons at the keyboard.
Then there was the story. I'm sure if I had bothered to look hard enough I would have found it, but from what I could tell it was lacking. There weren't any sort of cool recurring characters that eventually would join me on my quest. (like the black Ninja dude from FFVI or the simple joy of watching the Turks talk like in FFVII) They took all the fun out of RPG. It was just lone me wandering the countryside being killed by those god damn wabbits. Let me tell ya people by the end of a month you really wanted to just destory those suckers. We're talking driving to Square headquarters and smashing the servers that control wabbits levels of hatred. Bloody things....
The whole reason I play these games is to enjoy the witty banter of fictional characters while adventuring through an equally fictional world. I want multiple plots and subplots going on all at once then having them all come together at the end for some grand finale. Remember Final Fanasty VI? Each character pretty much had their own plot and arc going. Some even had two! The theif had his quest for redemption for being unable to save his girl from the empire back before you met him. He had some guru keep her in suspended animation to give him time to find the miracle cure to save her. Then he finally finds the esper to do it, and she comes back and tells him to stop focusing on the past and live.
The half esper half human girl who starts off with amnesia has to discover what love is as it related to her personal identity. The Doma guy who lost his family had to come to terms with his loss (In fact there's an entire dunegon where you go into his head and fight off his inner demons!) and he had to comically overcome his fear and misunderstanding of machines. The black ninja guy's plot you had to really look for. If you took him for lots of naps he had dreams that were like repressed memories of how he became this unfeeling ninja guy and at the end after the main boss is beaten and everyone's running out of the dunegon he yells out that he's going to start over and he runs off. There were ten characters like that! Each with their own unique personality and arc. It's the best game ever made by human hands! You can play it over and over and each time you see something new that enriches the characters and game a bit more. It wasn't about graphics or job skills you had or anything like that. It was about making you care about what happens in the game by drawing you in.
Final Fantasy online didn't have any of that. Everyone was clumped together and doing their own thing. Whenever I played I kept waiting for something to happen. A ninja man to be at a bar, or the guy with the airship hanging out in the inn. Something that would engage me in the game. It never happened though. I've played lot's of games by myself over the years, but Final Fantasy online was the only one where I felt alone.
-Mr.222 Feb 5, 2005
-Mr.222 Feb 5, 2005
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Geekdom should be Free!
The things I do for Fun
Ever played Final Fantasy online? No? Neither have I. I've got it all installed on the computer. Been there for about a week now. Cost me $28.95. I even endured going to Wal-Mart to get it. But I haven't played it. And why haven't I played it? Why haven't I, Mr.222, the greatest of the internet geeks, played the best game ever made? The coolest thing ever created for my kind?
I don't have a credit card.
Remember the good old days guys? When all you needed to be a super geek was a ten sided die in your back pocket? When if you knew the weakness of any given zombie based enemy you were the cool kid on the street? And it was free! Free! You didn't have to debate if you wanted a credit card just to be yourself or if you wanted to shed enough of your hard earned self respect to go to...Wal-Mart.
Although there was this cool guy in line wearing an army jacket. Cool guy, hated Wal-Mart about as much as I did. He said he hated the lines, but I explained how I can't stand the smell and he agreed after thinking for a quick second. Saw him a few days later at Shaws', explained my current problem, and we had a good chuckle over it, but enough about him. We need to focus.
Granted I should have read the box more carefully, granted I should have figured they wouldn't let me play online for free, but look past that for a moment won't you? I'm being charged a monthly fee to be me. It's like waking up one morning and someone making you give them a dollar or they shoot you in the head. I want to wake up free of charge, without having to worry that I left my wallet on the kitchen table and will I have enough time to roll out of the way when the bullets start flying? Will this be the day when my luck runs out and I get caught in a hailstorm of gun fire simply because I didn't want to pay the daily waking charge?
Just call me crazy, but that's not the kind of world I want to live in. I want to live in a world where I wake up every morning without the grinning gunman pointing his piece at me. Is that so wrong?
Just call me crazy, but that's not the kind of world I want to live in. I want to live in a world where I wake up every morning without the grinning gunman pointing his piece at me. Is that so wrong?
I don't think so. But that's what it's coming to, it starts with 'give us your credit card number so you can play the super fun game with your other dork friends' and ends with an explosive high speed car chase through downtown North Conway.
Maybe I'm getting off topic...
Maybe I'm getting off topic...
The thing is is that I shouldn't have to pay a monthly fee to play the greatest game ever created. I can perfectly understand Square's desire to turn a profit and I'm sure operating costs of all those servers can get up there, but that's why the devil in his annoying infinite mischief invented pop up ads. They're the gift you wish you didn't get, but serve the higher purpose of making services free. Instead of paying a monthly fee with money you pay a daily fee of mental energy putting up with the constant bombardment. And with the proper pop-up blocking technology it can be totally free, but the brilliant part is that the people paying Square to advertise still pay the money to Square. Everybody wins! Except the people who are paying Square, but they're expendable what counts is the mission.
I know what you're thinking, why don't I just suck it up and get a debit card? Why don't I join the rest of modern society and run into debt like a good little suburbanite? 'Think of it Mr.222', you're saying, 'think of all the pretty things you can buy with your new card. You can play all the online games you can stomach, you can buy all those Witchblade comics at Charlies you've always wanted, you can finally accessorize your room the way it should be accessorized. B5 posters bought on e-Bay, so many collector action figures that they blot out the sun, just give in...'
I'm not that kind of dork. I'm a low budget dork. I believe that you don't need fancy action figures to be the coolest nerd on the block. Being a nerd shouldn't be about how many fancy comics staring half naked woman with breasts bigger than your head you own. Being a nerd shouldn't be about how much you spend on online games no matter how cool. Being a nerd is about self respect. It's about looking in the mirror and knowing you watched the re-run of sci fi's Dune while everyone else was at the senior prom. It's about watching anime because you like the opening song even though it's in japanese. It's about using your brain to be better than everyone else, not your brawn.
At some point, probably during the late eighties early ninties, the dork/nerd/geek lifestyle got hijacked by corperate America. How big a dork you were depended on how many comic books you collected or the amount of action figures you owned in their original packaging. If you wanted to be a cool dork you had to go out and buy things. You had to get a credit card.
Well not me! I'm getting no such credit card! I'm going to sit in my basement watching my old B5 tapes (the ones I didn't buy on DVD!) and keep fighting the good fight. I refuse to be a party to their evil anymore. If I want to go on epic multiplayer quests, I'm make up imaginary friends and we'll go fight equally imaginary monsters in the woods. The way my dork forefathers taught me! I'll get out the old wizard cape I still keep in the closet and I will stop the FinRac from taking over the back field! Just you watch me.
Well not me! I'm getting no such credit card! I'm going to sit in my basement watching my old B5 tapes (the ones I didn't buy on DVD!) and keep fighting the good fight. I refuse to be a party to their evil anymore. If I want to go on epic multiplayer quests, I'm make up imaginary friends and we'll go fight equally imaginary monsters in the woods. The way my dork forefathers taught me! I'll get out the old wizard cape I still keep in the closet and I will stop the FinRac from taking over the back field! Just you watch me.
Course the real shame of all this is that I'm now out $28.95. I mean I could have spent that on a new wizard cape. The one I've got is really starting to fall apart. I saw this real nice one at Wizardshop.com. They accept personal checks too. Damn convient if you ask me.
-Mr.222 Jan 11, 2005
-Mr.222 Jan 11, 2005
by the way in case you're wondering, any zombie type creature is weak against Cure or any other sort of life based spell. Anyone knows that...
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